Chapter 12 - THE PERSON PIKE NAMED
No one asked Nora to repeat herself.
We all understood the sentence.
One of us, according to Raymond Pike, had recently tried to kill Martin Voss.
George looked at Patricia.
Patricia looked at George.
Vanessa looked at both.
Ethan looked at me.
I did not enjoy that.
"Who did Pike name?"
Nora held up one finger.
"He will only tell law enforcement directly."
George laughed.
"Then he's bargaining."
"Of course he is."
Nora closed the red case.
"Men like Pike don't develop ethics at retirement age."
"How old is he?" Vanessa asked.
"Sixty-seven."
"Has he confessed to Daniel's death?"
"Not yet."
Lydia stood beside the storage wall, staring at nothing.
Vanessa had not released her hand.
I noticed Patricia watching them.
Something complicated moved across her face.
Jealousy.
Fear.
Loss.
Perhaps all three.
"We need to leave," Patricia said.
Vanessa turned.
"You can."
"You're coming with me."
"No."
The answer was immediate.
Patricia stared at her.
"You have no idea what these people want from you."
Vanessa looked down at the ring inside her handbag as if she could see through the leather.
"I know exactly what you wanted from me."
"I wanted you safe."
"You wanted me controllable."
"Those are not the same thing."
"You taught me they were."
Patricia's face tightened.
Vanessa looked at Lydia.
Then at me.
"I'm going with them."
Patricia whispered.
"After everything I did for you?"
Vanessa's expression changed.
"Don't say that."
"It's true."
"You don't get to invoice me for being my mother."
Patricia flinched.
Vanessa continued.
"And you don't get to use love as a receipt."
We left Northgate with the red case in Nora's custody.
Law enforcement took the ledgers for forensic review.
A detective named Marcus Hale met us at a downtown office two hours later.
He was patient in the way good detectives are patient.
He asked the same questions in different forms.
He did not react when the answers became outrageous.
When he finally brought Raymond Pike into the interview room behind glass, Lydia gripped the edge of the table.
Pike looked ordinary.
That disturbed me.
Gray hair.
Reading glasses.
A tan windbreaker.
He looked like a man who might ask for directions at a gas station.
Twenty-eight years earlier, according to Patricia, he had forced Daniel Holloway off an icy road and left him to die.
Detective Hale sat across from him.
"Mr. Pike, you asked for protection in exchange for information."
Pike smiled.
"I asked for a deal."
"Deals come after truth."
"Truth is expensive."
"So is prison."
Pike's smile faded.
The interview continued for forty minutes before he reached Martin Voss.
"Martin got nervous three weeks ago."
"Why?"
"Because somebody found the Holloway trust schedule."
I looked at Nora.
She whispered.
"That was us."
Pike continued.
"He called me and said old parties were moving again."
"Which parties?"
"Mitchell."
"George?"
Pike smiled.
"You think George still runs anything?"
Behind the glass, George's face hardened.
Patricia did not move.
Detective Hale leaned forward.
"Who does?"
Pike looked toward the mirrored wall.
He knew we were there.
"Patricia always had the stomach George pretended to have."
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Patricia whispered.
"Liar."
Pike continued.
"George wanted Daniel's books."
"Patricia wanted Daniel quiet."
Lydia began shaking.
"Explain."
"Daniel knew she was moving money through Voss."
George stared at his wife.
Pike continued.
"He thought George was stealing royalties."
"George was."
"But Patricia was moving the stolen money again."
Detective Hale frowned.
"Where?"
"Into the private account she used for the child plan."
Vanessa looked at me.
The six-million-dollar account.
"Why?"
Pike smiled without humor.
"Insurance."
"Against what?"
"Against George."
Patricia stood.
"I'm leaving."
Vanessa did not stop her.
Detective Hale's voice came through the speaker.
"Did Patricia Mitchell order you to kill Daniel Holloway?"
Pike's face changed.
This was the question he had been saving.
"She told me to stop him from reaching Samuel."
"Did she say kill?"
"No."
Lydia looked almost disappointed by the ambiguity.
Pike continued.
"She said, 'Do whatever keeps that car from getting to Belle Holloway Road.'"
Detective Hale remained still.
"And what did you do?"
Pike looked down at his hands.
"I clipped his rear quarter panel on an iced curve."
Lydia turned away from the glass.
Vanessa wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Did you intend to kill him?"
"I intended to stop him."
"Did you call for help?"
"No."
"Why?"
Pike looked up.
"Because Patricia told me if police came, the ledgers would come too."
George's face was gray.
Patricia reached the door.
Then she stopped with one hand on the frame.
"You all think confession makes you clean."
No one answered.
She turned toward Vanessa.
"Do you want to know why I kept the money?"
Vanessa stared at her.
"I thought it was for raising me."
"Partly."
"What was the rest for?"
Patricia looked at George.
"Escape."
George laughed.
"From me?"
"From all of you."
Her voice rose.
"From Martin."
"From William."
The name meant nothing to most of us yet.
Martin's face did change.
I noticed.
"Who is William?"
Patricia realized the mistake.
"No one."
Vanessa laughed in disbelief.
"We have officially retired that answer."
Patricia gripped the doorframe.
"There were men behind George."
George stared at her.
"What men?"
"People who financed the Holloway deals."
"I knew the lenders."
"You knew the names they gave you."
Martin spoke quietly.
"Patricia."
She snapped toward him.
"Don't you dare protect them now."
I looked at Martin.
"Them?"
He removed his glasses.
"There were two primary debt organizers."
"Raymond Pike and a man who used the name George Pike."
Lydia frowned.
"George Pike."
Something flickered in her face.
I noticed, but she said nothing.
George Mitchell looked furious.
"You told me George Pike died."
Martin rubbed his forehead.
"I told you he disappeared."
"You said the result was the same."
"At the time, I believed it was."
Patricia laughed bitterly.
"And that's why I saved money."
"Because every time one of those men disappeared, another lawyer showed up with the same documents."
Vanessa stared at her.
"You thought someone might come for me."
Patricia's expression cracked.
"Yes."
"Then why not tell me?"
"Because you would have asked questions."
"That is what normal people do."
"And questions got Daniel killed."
Lydia inhaled sharply.
The room went quiet.
Patricia realized what she had said.
Vanessa stepped forward.
"You knew questions got him killed."
"I knew they made him reckless."
"No."
Vanessa shook her head.
"You said killed."
Patricia's face hardened again.
"Words come out wrong when people are attacked from every direction."
I watched her.
Another lie.
This time she held her breath before the first word.
Vanessa saw it too.
She whispered.
"You're lying."
Patricia looked at her.
Vanessa's voice became colder.
"I know your face."
"You always hold your breath before you lie."
Patricia released the doorframe.
For the first time, she looked at her daughter not as a child she could manage, but as a witness she could no longer control.
Then Detective Hale asked the question about Martin.
"Who tried to kill Martin Voss two nights ago?"
Pike smiled.
"Not Patricia."
Everyone froze.
Patricia stopped at the door.
Detective Hale frowned.
"You just said she runs things."
"She did."
"Then who?"
Pike leaned back.
"The Carter assistant."
Ethan whispered.
"Megan."
Pike nodded as if he could hear him.
"Megan Sloan."
Ethan stared at the glass.
"Why would Megan try to kill Voss?"
Pike answered the detective before we could ask.
"Because Martin was going to tell Eleanor Carter that Megan wasn't hired by George Mitchell."
My skin turned cold.
George's eyes narrowed.
Vanessa looked at Patricia.
Patricia slowly turned from the door.
Detective Hale asked.
"Who hired her?"
Pike smiled.
"Thomas Carter."
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
Ethan looked at me.
"Dad died seven years ago."
Pike nodded.
"Megan was recruited before he died."
"For what?"
"To watch Ethan."
"Why?"
Pike's expression lost its amusement.
"Because Thomas believed George would eventually use Grace to trigger the trust."
Ethan looked stunned.
"So Dad planted someone in my office to protect me?"
Pike shook his head.
"At first."
That phrase changed everything.
Detective Hale leaned forward.
"And later?"
"Later Megan realized she had access to both families."
"Meaning?"
"Schedules."
"Contracts."
"Trust drafts."
"Private emails."
Pike looked toward the mirrored wall.
"She stopped protecting Thomas Carter's son and started selling information to whoever paid more."
Ethan whispered.
"George."
Pike shook his head again.
"Sometimes George."
He smiled.
"Sometimes Patricia."
Then he delivered the answer no one expected.
"And for the last eighteen months, mostly Grace Holloway."
Vanessa's hand dropped from Lydia's shoulder.
"What?"
Pike continued.
"Vanessa Mitchell has been paying Megan Sloan since before the Atlanta auction."
Everyone turned toward Vanessa.
Her face went blank.
"That's a lie."
Pike leaned toward the mirrored glass.
"Then ask her about the account named White Rose Consulting."
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Ethan stared at her.
"You know that name."
She did not answer.
"Vanessa."
Her eyes filled.
"I can explain."
And with those three words, the story shifted again.
Ethan stood so suddenly the chair behind him tipped over.
"You can explain?"
Vanessa's face went pale.
"Not here."
He laughed.
"No."
"That sentence is done."
"You explain here."
"Now."
Vanessa looked at Detective Hale.
"Am I under investigation?"
"At this moment, I am gathering information."
"Do I need a lawyer?"
"You always have the right to consult one."
George spoke immediately.
"Do not say another word."
Vanessa turned toward him.
"You are the reason I need to say words."
"You have no idea what Pike is doing."
"Neither do you."
"He's trying to divide us."
Vanessa stared at her father.
"We are not a team just because someone else is worse."
George's face hardened.
That sentence destroyed the last tactic he had left.
Us against them.
Family against outsiders.
Money against threat.
Vanessa had lived inside that framework her entire life.
Now it no longer worked.
She looked at Hale.
"I want my attorney."
"Call them."
She did.
While we waited, Ethan paced the hallway.
I followed him.
"Don't say it."
"Say what?"
"That you warned me."
"I wasn't going to."
He stopped.
"You did warn me."
"About the agreement."
"About her."
"I had concerns."
"You thought she was using me."
"I thought I didn't know."
Ethan laughed.
"That's a very careful distinction."
"It's an important one."
He looked at me.
"Do you want to be right?"
The question hurt.
"No."
"Really?"
"I would give a lot to be wrong."
He studied my face.
Then his shoulders dropped.
"I love her."
"I know."
"Even after the hose."
"I know."
"Even after all this."
"Love doesn't stop on command."
"What am I supposed to do with that?"
I shook my head.
"I can't decide that for you."
He looked through the glass at Vanessa.
"Dad would've decided."
"Yes."
"George would decide."
"Yes."
"Patricia would decide."
"Yes."
He looked back at me.
"And you won't?"
"Not anymore."
May you like
He nodded slowly.
That might have been the first useful thing I did for him all night.
